Twenty (18.8 really) Miles

My sister before

 So after the 1/2 marathon was complete and I finally pulled myself out of bed, my sister and I realized that it was time to get back on our training schedule and start running again.

But way too early came our next long run: 20 miles!

We decided that the best way for us to do it was drive, 20 miles east, and run home along the lower 20 miles of a 50 mile bike trail that  goes by our house.

We figured we would always be headed home to warm showers and that would be all the motivation that we would need.

Me before

It also helped that it was the first day of below 90 degree temperatures.

We started off the morning in good spirits, though a little behind schedule.

The first few miles were spent waking up and learning what side of the trail to be on.  (Walkers/runners go on the far left, while bikers have the standard right side of the path)

The next few miles went fine, with us walking quite a bit and running some.  We were keeping hydrated with accelorade and water, and taking in gu and energy beans.

Us after

My sister was upset that she forgot to put sunscreen on her face.  But as it wasn't very sunny I thought she would be ok.

We stopped once or twice to get a rock out of our shoes or to get more water from one of the drinking fountains.

All was going well at mile 10, in fact we were quite enjoying ourselves.  We were walking more than running because the day was more about the distance than the speed.

Somehow I miscalculated when we were at mile 13.1 (the halfway point for a full marathon) so it seemed we walked that mile twice.

At mile 16, all was not well.  In fact I started to feel a lot of pain in my right shin.  I was glad I had gone further that ever before, but I was still 10.2 miles from a full marathon, and still about 3 miles from home.

The last 3 miles were horrible.  I was limping, we were low on water and out of Gu.  And the sun had gotten really strong and hot.  I was out of adrenaline and had to sit at least twice.  One time because I thought I was going to throw up.  Somehow I was over heating.  Remember that comment about forgetting sunscreen, yeah the whole left side of my body and my chest looked like a tomato and I am still peeling.

We made it to the park, where I sat down on a bench and my sister did the extra 1.2 miles to make it a full 20 mile run.

I then hobbled home.  Promptly got water, aspirin, and frozen blueberries.  Shin splints suck.  And now I'm not to run, and the full marathon is only 4 weeks away!